3rd Gen BHLM

If you decide to do it, I have some advice. Make sure you put something in between the heater element in the oven and the headlamp.. Cookie sheet, tinfoil, etc.

Also I recommend watching the heater element in the oven whilst you are cooking the lamp and if it turns on, bump the temp down until it turns off. Those heater elements are binary in the sense that they are either max heat or off. I melted a housing because I wasn't watching and the heater element kicked on during the 10 min bake at 200*

 

Thank you for the heads up Would it really be difficult to just cut the adhesive with a razor and not worry about heat, or is that for sure not going to work?

 

That definitely won't work. The glue is ridiculously strong when at room temperature and the lens normally slots into the housing so you wouldn't be able to get a clean cut anyhow. Plus, you have to apply new adhesive and repeat the heat process in reverse to put it back together.

 

I do have the luxury of working on a helicopter base. Got all kinds of sealant and adhesive

 

Those insulated cookies sheets (kind of thick without folded up sides) would probably be best to keep the focused radiant heat of the coils from doing damage. Or a good sized pizza stone.

 

Why not just use a heat gun?

 

You need even heat across the entire housing.


And OP even with access to great adhesives, you won't be able to use a razor blade.

 

I thought the proper way was to preheat the oven using a thermometer.
Then, turn it off so you're only using radiant heat.

 

One word, permaseal.

 

this

 

This. 200 - 250* for 10 mins to take off. If you don't get the lens off the first try, just stick it back in the oven for another 10 mins. Take your time, low heat. Then put some new silicone around the edges. Heat it up again for another 10 mins. Squeeze back together

 

I read last night that the oven could be preheated to 300° and then turned off. That sounds like a better plan to me. As far as what the light sits on. I'm thinking a nice piece of cardboard

 

I put mine on a piece of cardboard...

 

Grab some card board and preheat to 250. Leave the oven on throughout this process. i used to keep my headlights in for 10 minutes and they would just peel apart. never a problem. Unless Toyota has F'ed with the sealant like they have on the new body style tundras then you should be fine. I have done over 20 sets of tacoma lights like this and never had a problem with the housing melting. Do not take my word for the 2016s because i have not dealt with them. i look forward to seeing PICS!!!

- And for the love of you wallet make sure the headlamp fits in your oven before turning it on.

 

I tried turning it off prior to putting the headlight in after my incident and it did not work with my particular oven... it lost too much heat too quickly when turned off.

I've heard of other people using cardboard but I never liked that idea. What I did was put some 10 layers of tin foil on the metal rack (to protect the headlight from the heater element) and then I cut a ruler in half and placed the headlight such that it was only resting on the (wooden) rulers. The lens of course was not sitting on the rulers. Instead some random spots on the black housing were. The lens was facing up not touching anything. Worked great.

I had forgotten to put tinfoil down and didn't watch the heater element when I melted one.

 

Unfortunately I'm going to be tied up until after the 20th. I'm going to go for it though. Apparently the adhesive is a little different. I'll keep the temp down around 200-220 if I keep the oven on, with tin foil and cardboard to keep the light shielded. If it doesn't get hot enough then I'll move the temp up. You can always go up in temp but too late after its melted

 

I found some pictures. It was worth it even though I melted one.

 

I would practice on my old RSX but they were done when I bought it

 

Any updates, OP?